The Magic Trick (The Card Game #2)

Ch 13 - The Zoology Trial

CHAPTER XIII

THE ZOOLOGY TRIAL

Viktor and his classmates waited in the meeting room, many of them cradling their bottles of Knitbone Infusion in sweaty palms. Hardly anyone had touched the breakfast of tangerine juice paired with buterbrod meat and cheese sandwiches. They were too anxious to eat or drink. This morning was different than the others—a fact confirmed by the many footsteps that came marching toward the servants' meeting room. Sergeant Bogatir was among their number, but it was Rose who flung open the door, leading the way for the caped Lieutenant Vyrhus and a host of black-clad guards.

Belch grabbed Viktor's shoulder and moved behind him, whispering. "Oh, serpent heart hid with a flowering face. Did ever a dragon keep so fair a—"

"Not now," Viktor murmured.

"My, my, aren't we standing at attention," Rose said sweetly. "I suppose Illuminare informed you of the first Trial?"

"So it's Infusions?" Evenova asked.

"Stupid girl. As if you have even begun to grasp the basics of my art." Rose pursed her lips and petted her serpent. "No, this Trial will be more brutish. I am only here because I like to watch."

A chill passed through Viktor's body.

"Enough," Lieutenant Vyrhus snapped at Rose. "Bogatir, call out the roll of names."

With all present, the students soon set out for the western side of the castle, but the guards that flanked them added to Viktor's fear. Was this test so terrible that the Instructors thought the class would try to flee? Maybe so, for when Viktor entered a grand foyer, he realized what space he was about to enter.

"Greetings," Rose called to a man who approached. "Students, meet your Zoology Instructor, Fera Kustos, the Master of Beasts."

A fitting title, for Viktor found this Instructor looking more animal than man. Fera Kustos had a mane of curly, unkept brown hair, and his nose was flat and his jaw, wide. Even more noticeable than his bulging muscles were his clothes: Instructor robes had been abandoned for rich animal furs. A tiger skin hung over his shoulders and midsection; thick leather trousers and scaly boots covered his lower half.

Viktor had heard of this man once before, from Zindelo, the Horse Master of Kasta Way. Zindelo had claimed that Kustos bought fine steeds for Master Molotov, but Viktor wondered what else the gambler knew. He made a mental note to try to play cards with him again.

Instructor Kustos nodded at Rose, Vyrhus, and Bogatir in turn. Then he glanced at the youths and pointed to an archway. "The Zoological Garden. Follow me."

"B-But Instructor, w-we haven't had lessons yet!" squeaked the scholarly boy Modest. "B-Before a test, surely we sh-should—"

"I don't believe it," Boris spat. "Modest—king of quills—afraid of a test."

Fredek smirked. "Usually he'd wet his trousers just to take one."

The sight of the scrawny boy turning red and silent made Viktor's heart well with pity. They were all afraid—at least Modest had the courage not to deny it.

"Man's mind may tower over beasts," Instructor Kustos growled, "but if you cannot force your dominion over them physically, then books and study will do you no good. Let us see your grit—or lack of it. Now follow me."

Viktor felt himself being herded into a tight cluster of students, and with drawn swords forcing him onward, he was made to pass through the main stone archway that opened up into a dark world of cages. The pebbled passages in the Zoological Garden were shaped like a wheel with five spokes, and inside and outside that wheel were scores of exhibits in which animals were grouped according to their type. The Canes Domesticatis archway to the left held a kennel full of vicious guard dogs, Viktor knew, but the rightmost Cavea Avum archway the group entered was new to him.